NBA: Ageless Paul Pierce at head of his class

Sunday

Dec 23, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Bill Doyle NBA

To put Paul Pierce’s ability to continue to play at a high level at age 35 in proper perspective, all you have to do is scan the list of players from his 1998 NBA draft class who haven’t been able to keep up with him.

Michael Olowokandi, drafted No. 1 by the Clippers, finished his NBA career with the Celtics in 2007.

Pierce’s former teammate at Kansas and with the Celtics, Raef LaFrentz, was taken No. 3 by Denver in 1998 and has been out of the league since 2008.

Celtics assistant coach Tyronne Lue was drafted 23rd by Denver in 1998 and hasn’t played in the NBA since 2009.

In fact, only seven of the 58 players drafted in 1998 still play in the league, but Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas and Al Harrington of Orlando have yet to step on the court this season following knee surgeries. Of the remaining five, Pierce is the only one who starts.

At an age when most NBA players have slowed down or long ago stopped playing, the 6-foot-7 forward leads the Celtics in scoring for a franchise-record 13th consecutive year. He entered Saturday tied for eighth in the league at 21 points a game. His 40 points Wednesday and 35 on Friday were his most in consecutive games since 2006 when he scored 39 at the Lakers on Feb. 26 and 38 at home against Miami on March 1.

Of the NBA’s top 28 scorers this season, Pierce is the oldest. Tim Duncan, 36, ranks 29th at 17.5 ppg.

“He has the talent and he’s playing smart at the same time,” Lakers legend and ESPN/ABC analyst Magic Johnson told the T&G during a conference call. “That’s what makes him able to score 40 at the age that he’s at because he can score in so many different ways. He can score on the fast break, he can score in the halfcourt, he can come off picks and shoot it, he can go one-on-one and beat you and score. He’s a great free-throw shooter.

“He can beat you in so many different ways, but he’s so smart and he doesn’t use a lot of effort to do it. That’s what makes him so great. One move, one pump fake, and he’s right in the area where he wants to score. He’s one dribble away or he can catch and shoot.”

Pierce could become oldest player to lead the Celtics in scoring for a season, surpassing Sam Jones, who turned 35 three months after he paced Boston with 21.3 ppg during the 1967-68 season.

Truth be told, the Celtics didn’t really want The Truth on draft night in 1998. Celtics president Rick Pitino had his sights set on Nowitzki, but had to settle for Pierce with the 10th pick after former Celtic Don Nelson worked out a deal with Milwaukee and Phoenix to land Nowitzki for Dallas with the ninth pick.

Nowitzki certainly has enjoyed a great career, but the Celtics never complained about having to settle for Pierce. During his career, the 7-foot Nowitzki has averaged 22.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists while shooting 47.5 percent, including 38 percent from 3-point land. Pierce has averaged 22 points, 6 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 44.8 percent, including 37 percent from beyond the arc.

Nowitzki and Pierce each have one NBA championship and they are the only players from the 1998 draft who have played their entire careers for the same team. Jason Terry played with Nowitzki for eight years in Dallas and he’s getting to know Pierce in his first season in Boston.

“He’s a Hall of Famer,” Terry said of Pierce. “He’s a champion, one of the greatest Celtics to ever put on the uniform and that’s saying a lot. One day his jersey will be up there in the rafters. Not a lot of guys in this league stay with one franchise. You could count them on your hand right now.

“There’s not many that are superstars that have been in the league longer than 12 or 13 years and he’s one of them. His hard work, his dedication, his willingness to stick through the tough times and not just jump off and say, ‘I’m outta here. I’m going to go join forces with Kobe (Bryant).’ Or, ‘I’m going to go play with Dwyane Wade.’ ”

Terry paused and smiled after that last statement because LeBron James did exactly that, leaving Cleveland to join Wade in Miami.

“That’s a shot right there,” Terry admitted. “But (Pierce said), ‘I’m going to tough it out.’ I think that’s what guys look at and they respect him.”

Among active players, only Bryant, who is in his 18th year with the Lakers, and Duncan, in his 16th with the Spurs, have been with their teams longer than Pierce.

Pierce ranks second as a Celtic and 25th in the NBA in career scoring. He never has been voted first-team All-NBA or league MVP, but at age 35, he continues to be a productive NBA player and deserves to play in the All-Star Game for the 11th time.

“You know, when I first came to the league,” Pierce said, “I always asked myself if I wanted to be good or if I wanted to be great. Every time I stepped out and worked on my game, that’s the question I always asked — how good did I want to be? That’s why I always took the professional route, get here early working on my craft as hard as I could because I wanted to be one of the great players to play this game.”

Pierce grew up just outside of L.A. as a Lakers fan and got to know Johnson.

“Paul was like a little brother,” Magic said. “I played pickup games with Paul when he was up-and-coming so it’s great to see him put all that work in to make himself one of the greatest to ever play the game. So I just sit back and smile because I saw him put the time in, ask the questions, and he did it all on his own. So he deserves a lot of credit.”

Prior to his 40-point outburst, Pierce’s field-goal percentage of 41.4 and his 3-point percentage of 35.1 were both his lowest since 2003-04, the year before Doc Rivers took over as Celtics coach.

But Wednesday against Cleveland, Pierce recorded the second-most efficient 40-point game in Celtics history, making 13 of 16 shots (81.3 percent). Bob McAdoo sank 18 of 22 (81.8 percent) while scoring 42 points, also against Cleveland, on March 27, 1979. Over his last four games, Pierce has made 39 of 62 shots to boost his field-goal percentage to a much more respectable 44.4, including 39.1 from 3-point land.

While Celtics fans go back and forth between Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo when choosing the team’s most valuable player, Pierce has been the most consistently high-level performer. The Celtics still need him to score at his age because they don’t have another prolific scorer.

Pierce started off as a shooting guard who grew to 6-foot-7 so he switched to small forward, but he always considered himself to be a shooter.

“If you watch little kids,” he said, “and you go to the park and you sit there and watch them, the first thing you do is shoot long-range shots. You see kids that can’t even get the ball to the rim. They start way at the 3-point line and try to launch it. So I guess that’s really how it all started, just trying to throw the ball at the rim from as far as you can and it just evolved.

“Some players get the touch and others don’t. I was blessed with the ability to be able to shoot the ball as well as I do to go along with the practice and the time I put in over the years.”

Pierce may not be around much longer. He has admitted he may retire when his contract expires after next season.

“This guy is just unbelievable,” Johnson said, “and the Celtics and the city of Boston should be happy they got a guy like Paul Pierce. He’s definitely a Hall of Famer. His jersey will definitely go up in the rafters up there. It seems like every year, he’s just got better and better and better.”

At 13-13, the Celtics own their worst record through 26 games since Garnett joined the team for the 2007-08 season. What makes the slow start even scarier is that they’ve been healthy except for Avery Bradley, who has started only 28 games in his career but grows better in the minds of Celtics fans each day he remains sidelined after undergoing surgery on both shoulders.

Another frightening thought is that the Celtics’ schedule grows even tougher now.

Expecting Garnett — or even Pierce or Terry, all 35 or older — to last the entire season without missing games due to injury would be a lot to ask. Rondo is only 26, but even he has had trouble staying healthy and avoiding suspensions lately, missing 13 games last season and 14 the year before.

Other teams have survived and even thrived this season without injured players. Knee injuries have forced the Mavericks to play without Nowitzki, the Bulls without Derrick Rose, the Knicks without Amare Stoudemire, the Sixers without Andrew Bynum, and the Pacers without Danny Granger. But considering how little the reserves have produced so far, Celtics fans can only shudder at the thought of having to play without Garnett, Pierce or Rondo.

The Celtics have struggled even though they have played only one game (a loss at Miami on opening night) against the three best teams in the Eastern Conference — New York, Miami and Atlanta.

At Brooklyn at noon on Christmas Day, the Celtics open a four-game road trip. They’ve lost five in a row and eight of their last nine on the road. The Nets have been slumping, but the Celtics are already 0-2 against them.

Then they’ll play the Clippers and Warriors, two of the top five teams in the Western Conference, for the first time this season. The Celtics will conclude their road trip at Sacramento, one of the NBA’s worst teams, but they lost by 25 there last season. Boston will return home on Jan. 2 against Memphis, another Western Conference power.

Playing on Christmas hasn’t made the Celtics very jolly lately. They’ve played on the holiday each season since winning the 2008 NBA championship, but won only once. Last year, they opened their lockout-shortened season on Christmas with a 106-104 loss at the Knicks. Rondo had 31 points, 13 assists and 5 steals, but Pierce didn’t play because of a sore right heel.

In 2010, Orlando snapped the Celtics’ 14-game winning streak with an 86-78 home victory on Christmas. Rondo and Kendrick Perkins didn’t play because of injuries. The Magic ended the game with a 15-1 run.

In 2009, the Celtics won at Orlando, 86-77, and in 2008 the Lakers ended the Celtics’ 19-game winning streak with a 92-83 victory in L.A.

To get in the Christmas spirit, maybe the Celtics should re-sign Dionte Christmas, whom they cut in preseason.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.

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